Consider yourself digitally literate? If you answer yes, you should be able to correctly address the questions in the infographic. New research shows the mixed state of digital literacy in America.

Before continuing, look at these related posts: What Makes a Digital Marketing Leader? Digital Privacy Is Still a Big Issue.

 

A Pew Research Center Study: Digital Literacy in America

To learn more about this topic, we turn to a new Pew Research Center study:

“A 2019 report by Pew Research Center found that Americans lack digital literacy. With 40 percent of adults answering questions correctly on average. The study asked U.S. adults about a wide range of tech topics. “From who owns social media sites to tech policies and data privacy.”

“Overall, younger adults and people with higher education were more likely to get digital literacy questions correct. There were three questions that most people got correct. Those included what media most use phishing. What cookies are. And what the biggest source of revenue for social media platforms is.”

“People could also identify that phishing scams may occur on any number of platforms. Including social media, Web sites, email, or text messages. Most respondents knew that cookies track user visits and site activity. Nearly six-in-ten knew advertising ass the largest source of revenue for most social media platforms.”

“Still, Pew identified areas still largely unfamiliar to the American public. These subjects are as varied as they are numerous. The chief question people were unsure of was what Jack Dorsey, founder, and CEO of Twitter, looked like. Other topics like what the ‘https://’ means and what two-factor authentication is equally stumped people.”